


Inchoate

by IDK1382



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Drinking, Eventually there will be smut once I figure out how to write it, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gay, Gore, Harem, Humour, Hunter x Hunter - Freeform, Illegal Activities, Library, Multi, Murder, Obsession, Ocean, Possessive Behavior, Smut, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, Violence, Yandere, alternative universe, hxh - Freeform, idk how tag, mature - Freeform, mermaid, phantom troupe, possessive, powers, very gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:34:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDK1382/pseuds/IDK1382
Summary: *SMALL HIATUS*Inchoate/ɪnˈkəʊeɪt,ˈɪnkəʊeɪt,ɪnˈkəʊət/1. just begun and so not fully formed or developed*Soulmate AU*OCxPhantom Troupe Members
Relationships: Hisoka/Original Female Character(s), Illumi Zoldyck/Original Female Character(s), Kuroro Lucifer | Chrollo Lucifer & Original Female Character(s), Machi (Hunter X Hunter)/Original Character(s), Nobunaga & Original Female Character(s), Pakunoda (Hunter X Hunter) & Original Female Character(s), Phantom Troupe & Original Female Character(s), Phinks (Hunter X Hunter)/Original Female Character(s), Romantic/Sexual, Shalnark (Hunter X Hunter) & Original Female Character(s), Shizuku (Hunter x Hunter) & Original Female Character(s), Uvogin | Ubogin & Original Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The young girl finally awakens.

The first thing she noticed was how dark it was. 

It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Alarmed, she quickly looked around at her surroundings. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how long it had been since she woke up. She did know she was is some sort of cave, underwater. 

"Mistress, you're awake!"

She looked at the direction of the voice. She looked in alarm at the shark that had called for her. It was quick to come towards her, startling her and causing her to raise her guard.

"I was so worried! When I saw you here, I thought the worst!"

"H-how long have I been here," she finally said, testing out her voice. Her memories would come back to her soon, somehow she just knew this.

"I can't tell you the exact time but for a while. You were bleeding heavily when I discovered you and unconscious. I do not know what happened to you but it was a situation you were lucky to escape, I couldn't leave you here so I stayed to protect you! The Ocean even had trouble healing you."

"Thank you," she replied, smiling softly at the shark, putting down her guard. "Can I ask for your name?"

"I'm Sandy. Mistress, what's yours?"

"I do not remember it but when I do I shall tell you." 

"Mistress, you need to try moving your body. Your tail was the main source of your bleeding."

"Oh," she said, looking down her body. Scales the colour of purple decorated her entire body, they covered her chest in a lighter shade and began looking darker at the end of her body. She moved her tail so she was no longer lying down on the sand present in the cave but standing upright. It took a few seconds for her to do so since it had been a while since she moved any part of her body but the muscle memory took care of the rest. 

"Oh thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn't be able to move!"

"Thank you, Sandy," she repeated her words of gratitude again. She was truly grateful that this beautiful being who did not even her know, had no debt to her but still cared for her so much. "I will remember this and one day I will pay you back, this I promise to you." 

"Now, it is time for us to split our ways. Something is calling for me and I must find out what it is." She told the shark who immediately started disagreeing. 

"You just woke up. Mistress, it's too dangerous. What if whoever...or worse whatever did that to you finds you again! You can't be by yourself in this huge ocean."

"It's okay. I won't be in the ocean. Whatever calls for me is on land. Somehow I know that I will find answers to my situation up there."

"LAND!!! THATS EVEN WORSE. HUMANS LIVE THERE. HUMANS WHO ARE SELFISH AND SELF-CENTRED."

"They can't all be that bad."

"Mistress, they are the reason why so little mermaids exist now. It was their selfishness that wiped out so many of your kind." The shark calmly explained but felt guilty after seeing the shock and sadness on its mistress's face. 

"No..." she whispered, her voice laced in anguish. 

"Just please think it out before you do. I'm going to go catch some food for us. You need to eat."

The poor mermaid couldn't do anything but nod lifelessly as the shark's words began to sink in.

...

Since then three days had passed by quick, well that was what the moon told them and the moon never lied. But whatever it was that kept calling the mermaid only increased every passing day and so she had made up her mind of going to land. No matter how many times Sandy tried to warn her not too, she just couldn't listen.

And so, after saying her goodbyes to Sandy, hugging the poor creature who was distraught and making promises to try and return as much as she could and to stay safe, the young mermaid set out for land.

The closest thing near the water in the direction of whatever was calling her was a little island. So, she made her way there. She wondered what humans looked like, did they look similar to them? Did they truly look as evil as they made out to be? 

Finally, arriving at a clear surface she used her two hands drag her entire body up. It took a while for her legs to dry and in turn two normal legs replaced them. Sandy had told her that this would happen. Mermaids were granted the ability to swim in water and walk on land. Sandy had even tried to explain to her the powers a mermaid can have but none seemed to work for her. This came as a shock to Sandy. "But...purple blood runs through your veins. You should be the strongest there is!" The mermaid had then suggested that her loss of her memories might be the answer to which Sandy had also agreed.

But the one thing Sandy had never explained was how these legs worked. How could they? They didn't have access to legs, let alone know how to work them.

Now that her tail had disappeared so had her scales making her completely naked, her hair was still dripping wet but it was...black now? She touched her hair in alarm, shortly after waking up the mermaid had looked for something to see her reflection in. She had long multi-coloured hair cascading down her back. It was mix of purple, blue and pink. Her skin was tan and her face was decorated in jewels that were embedded on her skin. Her webbed hands were gone, along with her talons. She opened her mouth and just as she thought her sharp teeth had been replaced with dull flat ones. The normal colour of her eyes was purple but Sandy told her that many creatures that dwelled in the sea wore their emotions in their eyes. In other words, her eyes would change colour depending on her emotion. 

Still in alarm to the changes of her body, she rushed to the water to see her reflection but forget that she had no idea how to work her body and ended up tumbling around and falling to get a face full of sand. Lifting her head and spluttering out all the sand, she used her hands to get the rest out. When she saw her reflection, she sighed in relief to see that her eyes were the same changing to a lighter shade of purple to represent her fear. 

She was so caught up in her current situation that she did not notice the figure moving towards her.

"Who's there?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically her eyes colour means:
> 
> Dark purple: normal 
> 
> Light purple: fear, pride 
> 
> Light blue: sadness, shyness
> 
> Dark blue: calmness, caution
> 
> Golden: happiness, content
> 
> Green: disgust, envy, greed
> 
> Red: anger, not to be confused with rage
> 
> Grey: depression, not to be confused with sadness 
> 
> Pink: love, whether it's for family or a significant other
> 
> Black: coldness, 
> 
> White: shock
> 
> As for rage I was thinking the eyes of Ghouls in Tokyo Ghoul frankly because I think they're neat.


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The young girl starts making progress in the human world, she also meets an important figure in her new life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: small mentions of sexual assault (NOTHING HAPPENS, that is something I will never write about), blood

Ianthe had promised herself her wouldn't cry yet here she was breaking her own promise.

Ada ended up being the world to her and now she was gone. Ada who had been so kind to her without expecting anything in return. Ada who had helped her become accustomed to the ways of the human world. Ada who quickly became family. In her mourning Ianthe could only think of the memories the two had made in the few years they had together.

"Who's there?"

The mermaid quickly looked away from her reflection and turned towards the direction of the sound. She could see someone. Is this a human, she thought, why do they look so frail, do all humans look like this? 

"Are you okay?" the woman freaked out upon seeing that the girl she came across was naked and quickly threw her coat to cover the girl up. 

The mermaid could only look confused because she could hear the words coming out of the woman's mouth but didn't understand any of it. Human's speak another language, she thought. The woman continued to ramble her concerns over the young woman she came across and had assumed the worst. Upon looking at the woman's confused face, she came to a conclusion. 

"Can you not understand me?" the woman asked and confirmed her theory as the girl's face continued. "Oh, you poor thing. I hope you haven't come across others who saw your state and took advantage. Come, my house is near, let's get you warmed up and fed."

However, the girl still continued to sit down. The woman then made a get up gesture with her hands. The girl seemed to get it and used her arms to pull herself up resulting in her shakily try to walk on her legs but falling down again. She looked up helplessly at the woman. "It's worse than I thought, she can barely walk." The woman muttered to herself. "Stay...here," the woman said, "I'll get someone to help from the village."

When the woman returned with a young man from the village, someone she knew she could trust, she instructed him to lift the girl up and carry her to the woman's house. "Don't ask questions and definitely don't tell anyone about this, okay," the woman said to Devlin, the village boy, when she saw him open his mouth. Devlin closed his mouth and nodded. He was trying his best to only grab parts the coat was covering the girl's body, the last thing she needed was someone touching her bare skin. Like the woman, he too had assumed the worst and felt pity for the poor girl.

The mermaid could only look around in excitement, she was a little scared of the boy at first but she couldn't sense any evil intent in him and so she let him carry her. She was in awe at the houses she saw, sea creatures would take to live in underwater caves or the remains of shipwrecks so she had never seen such establishments. They also had plants of all kinds underwater but the ones on land stood tall. Humans, it seemed, lived in one spot for a long time while it was common for many who dwelled underwater to travel the ocean a lot. There was a lot to uncover under the sea and many would tell their adventures. All this knowledge was what Sandy had told her and the mermaid trusted Sandy completely. 

Soon they reached the woman's house. The woman opened the door and let the boy in first. "Put her on the couch," she instructed, and the boy did so. "Thank you, Devlin. I'll bring you some food next time I visit as a thanks." The boy lit up; the woman's cooking was the best in the village. He smiled in thanks and left.

"Food," the mermaid repeated, for some reason the word stuck out to her. This caused the woman to laugh which made the mermaid smile too. "Well it's nice to see that you can talk. Let me make something for you." The woman went to the kitchen and the mermaid could only look around. She was sitting on something that made her levitate! How cool! The room she was in looked cosy but she had no idea what anything was. While land was exciting it still scared the mermaid. How was going to find whatever was calling her when she couldn't understand anything that was on land.

The woman returned with a bowl in her hand but one look of the girl's distraught face made her concerns return. "Is everything okay, hon?" the woman said, knowing her words wouldn't be understood but still saying them anyway. The mermaid looked up at the woman when she felt the bowl being placed in her hands. "Eat," the woman mimicked a gesture of using a spoon to eat hoping it would be enough. The woman then left to get something she thought might help with the lack of communication between them.

The mermaid could only look at the bowl in even more confusion. She could feel her brain begin to deteriorate with all the confusion it had been put through. In the sea Sandy had just caught her fish and that was all she ate, no round mechanism accompanied with a curved stick was part of her dinner. Realising the stick was useless she threw it away. She dipped her entire face into the bowl, inhaling it all in one go.

The woman once again returned to the mermaid and could only look in shock as the mermaid looked up at the sound of her footsteps with the food covering her entire face. After the shock had gone away, the woman laughed at the mermaid smiling at her like she had accomplished something big. 

Using a nearby cloth the woman inched closer to the mermaid and began cleaning her face. The mermaid was surprised by the contact. Sandy was a shark who had fins and not arms. The only thing they shared was their gills. So to receive contact like this was a shock but...she liked it. the girl continued to look at the woman in awe. 

"Okay, now I have a crazy idea. Maybe you don't speak my language but hopefully you can read it." The woman picked up the notebook she had brought and wrote in big letter, HI, MY NAME IS ADA, on it. She then showed it to the mermaid who stared at it and her confused face came back again. The woman deflated. "It was a stretch, but I hoped it might have worked."

The mermaid looked concerned at the woman's sad face. "Oh well, let's get you cleaned up, the food I made for you got everywhere, you need a bath now."

The woman helped the girl onto her feet, putting her arm around her shoulder and letting the girl lean on her. "Okay, I want you to try and stand here for a while so I can run a bath for you. It's too late to get a doctor today so you'll have to wait until tomorrow. Only then can I confirm if there's any issues." The mermaid got a gist of what the woman wanted so she used the wall behind her to support her. After a small while the woman came back and once again let the girl lean on her and brought her into the bathroom. "We need to get this coat off you," the woman said taking the coat off the girl. "Now hold my hand and get in," the woman guided the girl into the bath. The mermaid got excited when she saw the water and jumped right in astonished at how humans could fit the ocean in such small places. 

Of course, the mermaid forgot that she was...well a mermaid. A mermaid in the land of humans. imagine the surprise of the woman when she saw this girl suddenly grow a fish tail and change hair.

Ianthe could only smile as she remembered how stupid she had been. Mermaids were intelligent creatures and quick learners. But she supposed that the shock of a new world filled with unfamiliar things made her happy to see something to familiar.

"Oh," was all the woman could say. The situation finally registered to the mermaid who quickly became panicked. "It's been a while since I saw a mermaid. I met one when I was a young girl...you kind of look like her." The woman said softly smiling at the mermaid hoping she would see that she isn't a threat and calm down. Luckily, the mermaid did. 

"Come on let's get you cleaned up." The woman then helped the mermaid bathe. Then she went to collect towels to speed up the drying process. When the mermaid's tail disappeared, she went out again but this time to collect clothes. "You're lucky I still kept my clothes from my childhood." She set aside the clothes and helped the mermaid stand. It took time but she finally dressed the mermaid who had no idea what clothes were and was once again confused. 

From then on, Ada would help Ianthe learn the language of the humans. She would point at certain objects, get Ianthe to repeat them and then show the purpose of the objects. Ianthe soon learned many words along with her favourite.

The mermaid now had a basic understanding of the language. She had learnt first that Ada was the woman's name. right now, Ada was in the kitchen preparing food, Ada had learnt many different cuisines to help the mermaid understand the unique cultures that humans had. Ada didn't mind, this made her cooking skills exceed. After finding out that the girl was a mermaid and was in desperate need of her help, Ada had declared that in order to live with her, the mermaid would help her out with chores. At first they worked on getting the mermaid to learn how to walk and then run. It took a long while and resulted in many broken things from the mermaid habit of falling. Ada then learned to clear anything precious when she was teaching the mermaid.

Once the mermaid started learning how to use legs, she surprised Ada with her speed. Underwater, mermaids were incredibly fast while they weren't as fast on land, they still exceeded a normal human's speed. Another thing Ada quickly learned was the extreme strength the mermaid had. Underwater most things floated but the reason mermaids were on top of the food chain was because they adapted. Ada had discovered this when she had accidentally dropped her house keys under the fridge and had to unplug the fridge and tried to move it. The mermaid who saw her struggle got up from the work Ada had assigned her (she was told to match the pictures with its name) and easily lifted the fridge up with one hand.

Ada nearly had a heart attack.

She had met a mermaid before but only in a short time so she never much about them. Young Ada had lived on this island her entire life, one day she had fallen into the ocean and was close to drowning. The mermaid was gone as soon as she came but Ada could never forget such a beautiful creature and had promised to somehow pay back the mermaid. Ada also had a theory that this mermaid was somehow related to the mermaid that saved her since her mermaid form looked exactly like that mermaid and so she was happy that she had a chance to pay back her debt.

Back to the kitchen, Ada was currently cutting up carrots and as she was thinking of other things to teach the young mermaid failed to notice how close her finger was getting to the knife. "Fuck," she said when she accidently cut herself. She rushed to get a Band-Aid and came back to a curious mermaid. 

"Fuck." The mermaid repeated.

"No, do not say that word," Ada replied, doing the no-no gesture with her bandaged finger. 

"Fuck," the mermaid said with a mischievous smile.

"Say that again and no more food for you."

"No. I sorry. Not the food."

Despite this, Ada would continue to say the word when something went wrong and the mermaid soon came to the conclusion that the word should be said after a mistake had occurred. Realising that the mermaid wouldn't stop saying the word, Ada then taught her about swearwords and that they should be said carefully. However "fuck" would be her favourite. 

After she had learnt the language, only then did Ada let her go to the village. Ada lived a bit farther from the village. "There's a limit to how much I want to see the faces of anyone from the village," she had told her. 

Ianthe would then memorise the route to the village, along with important stops like the butcher's so she could help Ada with errands. 

The villagers were hesitant to meet her first but with the reassurance of her Ada and Devlin, they grew to trust her. Soon they would greet her with happiness. Devlin was excited to see her. He asked her a lot of questions, "Are you okay?" was one of them. The boy would then become a close friend. Someone she knew she could trust.

However, some villagers had evil intent and only then was Ianthe's true strength discovered. 

She was named "Ianthe" by Ada when she had confided in the old woman about her loss of memories. She liked the name; it was easy to say, and she liked the story behind the name.

She was returning to her house, it brought her joy to call a place her home, when she realised something was wrong. The door to the house was open. Ada was a cautious woman, she never left any doors or windows open. 

Ianthe walked in carefully making sure to walk lightly so her footsteps wouldn't be heard. She had to contain her shock at the trail of blood she discovered. She proceeded to walk into the living room.

She a group of village boys she would often see in the village when she would do her rounds. They would always try to get her attention which she never gave them. Even right now, she couldn't remember any one of their rooms but what mattered was that Devlin had warned her to stay away from them.

The boys were huddled around an unconscious Ada, the blood had come from the wound on her head. She was probably knocked out, Ianthe came to a conclusion.

All the mermaid could see was red. Her appearance caught the attention of one of the boys who nudged what she assumed was their leader.

Their leader turned to look at her and grinned wickedly.

"See if you had just paid attention to us, this wouldn't have happened. Oh, well. The old hag was going to die soon anyways and after we're done with you so will you."

Rage consumed the mermaid. Her iris and pupil now red with its sclera black, glared at the boys. 

"What..." the leader said as the house began shaking.

"You're going to regret this." The mermaid warned. 

"Is it getting hot in here," one of the boys said.

"I'm heating up." Another said.

The boys all began sweating aggressively. Soon they began choking. One boy then started spitting blood. 

Soon it stopped. The mermaid wanted nothing but to finish them all off but this would only cause trouble for Ada.

"If you don't want me to finish this, then you all better leave and never do anything like this again. Because I will kill you only next time with my bare hands." Promised Ianthe.

Nodding in fear, all the boys quickly ran out the door.

Ianthe rushed to Ada. She was freaking out. She doesn't know how to stop the blood and it would be too late if she left to get a doctor, even with her speed.

Her only hope was the Ocean.

The Ocean had healed her, maybe it'd do the same for Ada.

Carefully she brought a glass of water, scooped some up and placed it on Ada's wound. To her relief the wound began to close. However, the mermaid never knew it was her own power doing this. 

Ada was grateful to Ianthe and despite rooting for Ianthe to finish the boys off when she heard the story, she was thankful she didn't. Who knows what the village would have done to the mermaid.

Ada decided it was time to tell Ianthe about what the humans had done to her kind.

"Okay, kiddo. You need to be sitting down for what I'm about to tell you." Ada said guiding Ianthe to the couch.

"Huh? What's wrong? Don't tell me...no food for tonight?" Yep, to the mermaid not having any food was the greatest tragedy ever.

"No. not that. It's time you knew what happened to the mermaids. You told me your friend explained it to you that humans were the reason and they were right. But that was all they told you. So, keep quiet and wait until I'm finished to say anything."

"It all started when one of the mermaids made contact with the humans. He decided to reveal himself to another human male. The mermaid and the human would then meet at the same spot, keeping this meeting a secret from their own kinds. They would then become very close and this friendship turned into something deeper. Romantic love."

The mermaid wasn't surprised. Ada was kind to explain to her about love, the different kinds of it. Love for friends, love for family, love for objects and love for a partner. Ada had also taught her about sexualities. The mermaid was surprised. Sea creatures often did not care about gender and would settle for whoever they fell in love with. So, hearing that humans had so many more different ones brought joy to her. But then Ada brought the news of how certain humans would condemn others for who they loved and it brought sadness to the mermaid. 

"After a while, they decided to reveal their kind to each other. Mermaids would soon create companionships with humans, majority were friendly but some were romantic. It was good at first. But humans began to grow jealous of the not only beauty mermaids were blessed with but their power. Soon rumours such as a mermaid's blood will cure all diseases to a mermaid's tear will grant someone immense beauty if consumed began to circulate. The foolish humans believed this and soon began hunting them down. It took man-made weapons to be able to take them down. They would then bleed out the mermaids or force them to cry their last tear. To no one's surprise, mermaids began to die out. The remainder retreated to the Ocean, promising humans that if any of their kind came to the water, mermaids would show no mercy. Humans then span a narrative about mermaids being these horrid creatures that would sing lullabies to lure in men and eat them. I believed these rumours until one day I was saved by a mermaid. She looked to be the same age as me and I only saw her for five seconds but I can tell you right now, I had never seen such beauty in my life. I realised how kind mermaids were, instead of killing me and showing no mercy like the humans, she saved me. I searched for resources regarding the lies humans told about mermaids and found out easily that the humans were the evil ones in this case. The only reason why many never questioned this was because humans hate to be reminded of their evil."

Ada took a deep breath.

"This is why it's important that you keep what you are a secret. Do not tell anyone."

Ada would then pass away three years after that old age. Her last words to Ianthe was to be careful on her journey to her calling. The mermaid had confided about that to Ianthe. The only reason she did not go earlier was there was much to learn about the human's world. There were a lot of dangers. The mermaid was only beginning to understand her powers, too. Whatever she had done to the boys was only there because of the intense emotion she was feeling. That rage she had felt was something she had never felt before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ianthe: Of Greek origin translating to "Violet Coloured Flower" in English. Ianthe was a beautiful Cretan girl who was betrothed to Iphis. Iphis was a woman raised as a man; she also fell in love with Ianthe and prayed to the gods to allow the two women to marry. Also a name for an Ocean nymph in Greek mythology. 
> 
> A/N: It will take a while to get to the Phantom Troupe, sorry! But the next chapter will focus on explaining the soulmate part of this story. Also both Hisoka and Illumi will be part of the Troupe because I can do that. 


	3. Goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianthe finally says goodbye to the island and its inhabitants and starts her journey.

Saying goodbye is hard. Especially when you know you won't see the person again.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for everything you did. I was incredibly lucky to have met you. I will continue this journey to the end, and I hope I make you proud." Ianthe bid farewell to the gravestone where the women who had ended up being a mother and friend in one was buried. She had with her some money and all her materialistic possessions could fit in one bag. The village she was currently in wasn't that well off, but all the villagers made do.

Ianthe had discussed her next steps with Ada, who told her that there was a boat on the docks that could take her to where she wanted to go: Yorknew City. At least that was what Ada told her was in the direction of where she wanted to go. It would take a while; the village was far from a lot of civilisation, but Ianthe didn't care.

Now with Ada gone, I don't have anything holding me back. Well, maybe one thing...

"IANTHE!" she heard a familiar voice call her name before she felt something pounce on her making her fall down.

"Ow, you idiot watch where you're going!" she said, striking the dumbass on the head.

"Ianthe! You can't leave! Where will you even go? You barely have any jenny to keep you going!" Devlin began listing all the issues Ianthe would face in the journey she wanted to take. "Humans are awful! They'll gobble you up and spit you out. They'll take advantage of you since you barely know how the world works! What if someone accidently sees your gills!"

Ah, her gills. It was the one of the few physical attributes from her mermaid form that stayed on her human one. Sandy had warned her to not show them to anyone as a mermaid's gills are very sensitive, this was the very disadvantage the humans used to their advantage. One jab would knock a mermaid out with ease and to kill a mermaid would be extremely easy from then on. Hence why, on land Ianthe only wore clothing that covered them up. 

"Okay, you need to calm down Sandy 2.0," Ianthe replied, "you're well aware I can take care of myself, I can lift four times what you can, the Ocean lets me control water and I still have a lot to discover about myself. They'll be plenty of job opportunities in Yorknew and if not, I can just ask the Ocean to lend me it's goods so I can earn some jenny. As for my gills, no one in the village has discovered them yet so I think I can manage out there."

Yes, Ianthe had come clean to Devlin about what she was. She was left with no choice, anyways.

Ianthe had left for a couple of days to go back to the Ocean. She had promised Sandy after all she would visit and being on land, underneath the blaring hot sun for days on end was making her dry up very fast. Mermaids had a limit to how much they could stay on land; this was something she discovered a week on land. She started getting itchy skin which then led to her skin patching up and finally start cracking. Ada had freaked out obviously and that was when Ianthe heard the Ocean calling her back in a panic. The Ocean kindly healed her again in a few hours and Ianthe had learned from her mistake.

However, she soon discovered that the limit would decrease depending on how much a mermaid would use her powers. She came to this conclusion after the situation with Ada which led to the mermaid healing her with water, her skin dried up quick. She didn't know the consequences of not getting to the Ocean in time, but she figured that was a problem for future her to discover.

Back to what we were originally discussing, Ianthe had just come back from the Ocean. She was currently resting on a part of the island (a secret spot Ada had shown her), waiting for herself to dry so she could get her legs back when she heard a gasp followed by a thud.

She looked in a panic at the source only to see her only friend her age on the sand not that far from her. Devlin had seen her form and fainted from shock.

"Shit, Devlin! Dry faster!" she commanded her body. It took five more minutes until her legs returned. She hurriedly put the clothes she had left behind on and rushed to him. 

"Devlin, wake up!" she shouted, shaking his unconscious body. When he still didn't respond, she slapped him.

"OW!" Devlin yelled, waking with a sweat. "Oh, hey Ianthe. How's it going?" he said smiling at her.

She could only look at him in anticipation, she could look past his idiotic tendencies. "Devlin, do you remember what caused you to pass out?"

"I came here because I wanted to sketch this spot on the island when I saw someone who looked a lot like you, but they had a different hair colour, so I went for a closer look when I realised it was you. But you...oh my god. You're a mermaid!" Devlin said pointing a finger at her.

"Yes I am." Ianthe saw no point is lying. She knew she could trust him. "Are you scared?"

"Not really...I always knew there was something different about you, even if you had amnesia, you still knew absolutely nothing." He replied.

"Well..." she was still taken by surprise due to his reaction. "Do you have any questions?"

"You bet I do!"

She spent the rest of the day answering any questions she could. Devlin had promised he would keep her secret till the day he died. She went to bed that night with a smile.

Yes, some humans are bad but some are the kindest people I have ever met, she thought. 

"Devlin, I'll miss you. I..." she took a deep breath, "I love you, you do know that, right? But this is something I have to do."

Devlin's eyes shone and he hugged her again, this time he had started crying. "I love you too!"

Love was something she did not take lightly. In fact, she only remembered saying it to one person and that was Ada, right before she passed. And now, to Devlin, who she may or may not see again.

I guess I only say it in goodbyes.

"The boat's leaving soon," Devlin said into her chest. 

"Come one, get up you dumbass," she said, lifting the both of them up. 

"Stay away from men! All men are wolves!" he warned her. 

"You're a man, does that make you a wolf too?" she asked. 

"No, I'm waiting patiently for my soulmate, but some men out there don't even care for theirs!"

Soulmates.

Everyone had one.

That was true but this soulmate system was cruel.

You see, a soulmate can only be identified when skin-on-skin contact happens. When that occurs, the people involved will glow. A person can have many soulmates, but the norm is to have one or two. Where this system becomes cruel was that there was no guarantee you would meet them and since you can only know if they die is if you've touched them, many people go through life hoping to meet theirs and not even knowing if they're alive.

Ada was a classic story of this. Living in such a small village, she knew everyone present on the island. She never got to meet hers and died without ever meeting them.

The story of the first meeting of a human and mermaid was romantic but the two were not soulmates. They simply never got to meet theirs.

But Ianthe's situation was different. She speculated hers was also a mermaid. As far as she knew, there had never been a time where a mermaid and a human were soulmates. And now, with so little mermaids existing, she had already prepared for the worst and thought hers was dead.

Of course, she still had hope. She at times would imagine scenarios of meeting them but she knew it was futile as she had yet to come across a mermaid in the Ocean, that was how little of them was left. Sandy had informed her that before the massacre, there was an 8/10 chance of meeting a mermaid in the ocean. Now it was 0.10/10. 

Ianthe didn't care about the gender of her soulmate, some people in the village would complain of having one that belonged to a gender they didn't like in that way. She didn't care if her soulmate was short, tall, she didn't care about their body type. She only wanted to love them. She wouldlearn to love all parts of them and hopefully they would do the same.

She reached the port where the boat was, gave her ticket to the man in front and boarded the boat. The boat wasn't that big, but it looked like it would hold on their journey. She could have swam but she didn't know what awaited her on Yorknew. From what Ada told her, cities were typically more technological than villages, they would have contraptions like cars (she still didn't know what a car looked like) and were even more further from the Ocean. It would definitely be a challenge living there. She sat down on an empty spot on the board, held the bag to her chest and closed her eyes and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Not me updating when I have exams coming up. A few more chapters to go before the appearance of the Phantom Troupe.


	4. Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianthe gets acquainted to new people.

She was jolted awake by a loud thud.

Ianthe glanced around in alarm. Being awoken so abruptly out of nowhere made her uneasy. She could see people aboard the ship were also awoken as murmurs of questions arose around her.

“Sorry for the messy landing! We are currently residing on an island so the crew can get some rest. Feel free to explore to your heart’s content but remember to be careful, you never know what dangerous creatures might pop up and make sure to be on the ship when the sun rises in the morning, or we will leave without you,” one of the crew told everyone in a loud voice.

Ianthe lifted herself and lined up in the crowd that was forming on the only entrance on the ship, excited to see a new place. She had only known the island that she had just left, the rest of the world was still unknown to her.

As she stepped off the ship, she could see the island more clearly. It was two times the size of her old one and seemed to not be habited by any humans as many huge trees towered over her. It seemed like a forest and she had no idea what was awaiting her in there.

Cautiously, Ianthe took her first steps into the forest. She had left her old island around daytime and now the moon was out which made the island around her seem spooky. Shivers went down her spine just looking at the forest by the border. She decided she would stay by the beach where the ship was and get some more sleep.

Nope, I will die another day but not today!

She found a comfortable spot in the sand (well as comfortable as sand can be) and using her bag as a pillow, closed her eyes and fell asleep once again.

This time it was a loud, shrill scream that woke her up.

It had come from the forest.

The moon was still out, so she knew she had only been asleep for a short while.

I’m going to beat the shit out of this person for waking me up!

Wasting no time, she ran in the direction of the scream. She estimated it was somewhere in the middle of the forest.

The first thing she saw was a huge snake. It had beautiful white scales decorating its body and anyone could see its blood red eyes glinting in the moonlight. It was currently making its way slowly towards its prey.

Who’s the prey, you ask? Well it was a small family of three who were also aboard the ship with Ianthe. The very scream she had heard belonged to the mother.

Well, good luck to you guys. Hope you make it out alive!

Ianthe turned around to leave, she was in no way going to help these humans. They knew what they were getting into, they were warned. This is on them.

Maybe in your next life, you can be a rock. Less problems in your life if you ask me.

“No! Don’t leave. Please help us!” the voice had come from the child, a young boy, who had seen Ianthe turn her back on them.

“No, I don’t think I will!” she replied, turning around once again. “Good luck!”

“We’ll give you anything you want, money, food…you name it, it’s yours!” this time the promise had come from the father.

It was the promise of food that had convince her.

In no time, she lunged at the snake, landing a kick to its head. She made sure to only knock the poor thing out, not kill it.

The snake landed on the ground with a thud, knocked out. Her quick actions astonished the family, their jaws on the floor.

“Well, I want my food. You promised me food,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Thank you!” the young boy said, wrapping his small arms around her.

Surprised by the interaction, all Ianthe could do was awkwardly pat the boy’s head. She had no idea how to treat children, all she had ever felt when she saw them was the strong urge to kick them.

“I’m Rhet! What’s your name?” the boy asked her.

“Ianthe.”

“Come on Ianthe, let’s go back to the beach,” he said, dragging her back to the beach, his parents following.

“How did you get so strong? That snake was huge and you just went BAM and it went down so easily!” he asked once they had made it to the beach and had sat down.

“I’ve just always been strong,” was her reply. She turned to the parents.

“Food.”

“Oh! Yes, here you go,” the mother said, taking out a lunch box from her bag and handing it to Ianthe. She wasted no time in eating the food in no time. It was good but nowhere near Ada’s level.

I’ll never eat Ada’s food again.

This thought quickly changed her mood. The family could see the quick change in mood, her careless attitude had turned depressing.

“Does it taste that bad?” the mother asked.

“Huh? No…this is good. You’re a good cook.”

“Big sis, why do you look so sad then?” Rhet asked her.

The change in name surprised her. But for some weird reason, she didn’t mind being called that.

“I just said goodbye to the only people I can remember loving,” Ianthe replied, her response made the family give her pity looks. She didn’t like those looks.

“Well, where are you hoping to go? Maybe we can be of some help,” the dad asked her.

“A place called York New. Do you know it?”

“Know it? Dear, it’s a very popular place, a lot of people know it.”

“Oh…”

“Do you know anyone there? Did you get a job offer?”

“No and no. I just really need to go there.”

“Hmm…” The mother looked to be in deep thought.

She got out a notebook and wrote something down.

“Go to this place when you get there, tell him that Calli sent you and he’ll give you a job,” she said, giving the note to Ianthe.

Ianthe looked at the writing:

Grand Oak Athenaeum

Located on: xxxxxxxxx

“Oh, thank you,” Ianthe replied.

“This was the least we can do, you saved our lives,” Calli sent her a warm smile.

…

After the sweet exchange Ianthe had went to sleep, Rhet who had become attached to her was adamant on cuddling her. His parents had tried to convince him to not bother her anymore, but she found herself being fine with it.

Morning came quick and she carried Rhet to the ship so they wouldn’t miss it. He was still asleep, and she couldn’t find it within her to wake him. She quietly conversed with Calli for the next of the ride.

Unfortunately, goodbyes came quick as the family’s destination had come. Callie had told her that they were going to visit their distant family and would get of the ship earlier than her.

Rhet wouldn’t let go of her. He had started crying, yelling out, “No I don’t want to leave Big Sis!”

All she could do was make promises of how she would try to visit him when she could.

With a heavy heart, Ianthe said her goodbyes to the family. She waved at them until she could no longer see them on the shore.


	5. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianthe meets someone who will help her understand her powers better and begins the process of re-inventing herself.

All she could see was bright, eye-hurting lights.

It took a while for Ianthe’s eyes to get used to the city she was now in. York New was nothing like she’d expected. Some part of her thought it would mimic the island she was used to in some ways but nope.

I can’t believe I have to get accustomed to this place, too. My brain hurts from all this knowledge I have to remember.

It took everything she had to not just break down and cry at her misfortune, but people were already giving her looks and she didn’t want more attention to her.

She had asked the Captain of the ship if she knew where Grand Oak Athenaeum was and thankfully, she knew where it was and had given her directions.

“If you still get lost, just ask someone for help. It’s a well-known building so it shouldn’t be hard for you to find. Just some advice, be careful who you interact with.”

Ianthe didn’t need to be told that twice (in fact she gets told that every chapter!).

I love how even humans don’t trust each other.

…

She was lost.

There was no denying it.

She was confused by this city. She had spent the last hour trying to avoid being hit by the cars, there was these things called subways and don’t even get her started on “traffic lights”. She had to pick up some manual to try and get a basic understanding.

“Excuse me?” Ianthe said to a group of young girls. When the attention was on her she proceeded to ask, “Do you know where the Grand Oak Athenaeum is?”

“Oh! We’re headed there too. Why don’t you join us?” the girls smiled warmly at her.

Ianthe sighed in relief. “I would love too. Thank you.”

“Is this your first time in York New?” one of the girls asked.

Ianthe nodded. “I’ve never been in a city before. I’ve lived on an island my entire life.”

“Well, you’ll have to start getting used to many things if you want to start a life here.”

The girls led Ianthe to a bus. “This will take near there and then we’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Don’t worry, it’s a small walk.”

The rest of the ride was spent with the girls asking Ianthe various questions of her life of living on an island. Something about her must have made the girls like her because they promised to take her out to see the various good spots York New had to offer.

“We can even show you some of the malls they have.”

Ianthe knew they wanted her to dress better since her current clothes made her look very out of place but they didn’t want to be rude so they hid their intentions.

The walk to the building was as short as the girl had said.

“Grand Oak Athenaeum is a library. It’s well known to have many books dating the history of this world, artifacts etc. Scholars love the place. We’re going there for a school project. What about you?”

“I’m looking for a job. Someone told me I might find one here.”

“I hope you get it!” one of the girls voiced and the others also offered words of encouragement.

Ianthe felt good being around other girls her age. The village had some, but they never bothered to talk to her so Ianthe never bothered with them either. But these girls were offering to help her out so her adjustment would be easier without even asking for anything in return.

The library wasn’t that big compared to the other buildings, but it did look different to many. It made it stand out a lot. While other buildings were more on the brighter side, the library had a brownish tint to it. It looked like what a library should.

“Despite it being so popular, Frances Edmond is the only one who runs it. It’s a family business so he doesn’t trust anyone other than himself to take care of it and has never hired a worker. Maybe he’ll hire you.” The girl offered her a weak smile.

Ianthe gave one back.

Okay, breathe in and out. You can do this. Calli said he owed her anyways, so the job is yours!

The girls left to search for the resources they needed after saying bye to Ianthe. They had left her their numbers, “When you get a phone, call us. We’ll arrange the whole showing you around thing!”

Ianthe walked up to the desk, she saw the back of the man whom she assumed was Frances Edmond. “Hello?” she asked.

The man turned around. Wow, he’s pretty, was the first thought that came to Ianthe. Frances had long blonde hair that was tied into a low ponytail. Ianthe could see that he took great care of it. His eyes were a deep shade of emerald.

“Yes, can I help you?”

“I was wondering if you were looking to hire someone.”

“No. If that’s all you have to say then goodbye.” The man turned around again.

“Calli sent me. She said you owed her.”

Looking at the man’s glare directed her, Ianthe couldn’t help but feel smug.

“Can you work crazy hours? What if I need you to come in at 2 a.m.?”

“Why would a library be open at 2 a.m.?”

“Answer the question.”

“Yeah. I just moved here, I have no life.”

“Fine. You can work here,” Frances agreed. He got out a clipboard, attached to it were a couple of pieces of paper. He gave them to her. “Sign these. Your first shift is tomorrow at 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Make sure to wear…something that isn’t that.” He pointed at her current clothes.

“Okay boss.”

“Don’t call me boss.”

“What should I call you then?”

“…Boss is fine.”

Ianthe quickly looked over the form.

“Okay, I have some questions.”

“Spit them out.”

“What if I don’t have an address? Or a phone number? Or a guardian? Or-"

“I get it.” Frances snapped, rubbing his temples with his hand. Ianthe only smiled at him.

“Is that all you have?” he asked, pointing at her small bag. Ianthe nodded.

“Follow me.” He said, grabbing a set of keys and walking to the stairs that led to the second floor. After climbing up the stairs, he used the keys to unlock the door that was there. “I have my own place, so I don’t use this one. Everything you need is here, a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Don’t worry you don’t have to pay me rent just know the bills for this place will be taken out of your earnings. As for a phone, I’ll get you one but if something happens to it, it’s up to you to buy a new one. I can also see that you don't have any good clothes so we'll have to go shopping too.”

Ianthe looked around in awe at the place. The kitchen and bedroom were all in one room but was still spacious and she assumed the other door led to the bathroom. There was even a balcony present.

“Thank you. I’m very grateful, boss.” Ianthe said to Frances. She knew she had to pay him back somehow.

“Whatever. Tomorrow I’ll teach you what the job requires you to do so make sure you’re on time. This entire week will be a trial and if you succeed then this arrangement can continue, if not I’ll kick you out.” Frances turned to leave.

Fair enough.

“Oh, one more thing,” Frances said.

Ianthe had to respond to the incoming daggers by using the water that was in her bottle to create a shield around her.

“Just as I thought. You’re a mermaid.” Frances said.

“How did you know?” Ianthe asked, scarily calm.

“Your eyes were purple when you walked in, they turned golden once I told you that you had the job. A common trait present in all mermaids. You need to be careful; many wouldn’t think twice about it but if someone else knew that knowledge and saw that…the results can be disastrous. I’ll also need to get you some contacts.”

“You’re going to help me?”

“Don’t be so shocked. You’re going to pay me back by helping me with my…side business.”

“Side business?”

“We’ll get to that later. Just focus on working at the library first.”

…

Turns out Frances’ side business was illegal activities.

Drug dealing, weapon laundering etc. You name it, he’s done it.

He wanted Ianthe to be his personal bodyguard because it was dangerous for him to be in business like this and not get hunted.

“I could get a hundred bodyguards, but they still wouldn’t equal to your strength.”

She wasn’t against what he was doing. She simply didn’t care. She knew the job meant she might have to kill but one thing Ianthe wouldn’t back down from was killing humans. After all they had done to her kind, she wouldn’t show mercy on any of them unless they were close to her. So far, that list was small. Ada was already gone but Devlin, Rhet and his family, the group of girls she had met when she moved to York New and even Frances still remained.

Yes, Frances wasn’t all that bad. Sure the man was a stone-cold killer, Ianthe would go far to even call him a psychopath but she wouldn’t judge a person based on their sociopathic tendencies (I mean, she has yet to meet a single member of the troupe). Since the library had many information necessary to her, Frances started tutoring her on subjects like psychology, chemistry so she could at least have a basic understanding on subjects like that. When she confided in him about her lost memories, he got to researching amnesia and different ways in how she could get her memory back.

And before she knew it, Ianthe’s other training began.

“How does your water control work?”

“The Ocean lets me bend water to my will. So far, I can use it to make it a shield, if I concentrate enough that shield can be unbreakable but only for a couple of minutes. I found that I can easily change the amount of water. For example this bottle of water barely had water in it but I still managed to make the shield with it by changing the amount. I can heal with it as well but that has limits too. Only external injuries can be healed. At times, I can even change the water to ice and I can even heat it to smoke but it really tires me out.”

“And the more you use your abilities, the more your body gets used to it, right?”

Ianthe nodded.

“Okay, what you need is control. You can achieve that control by mastering other things. So, after your shifts, I’ll teach you how to use guns, swords as well as martial arts, with your strength it’ll make a deadly combination. While learning this, everyday you’ll use your powers a little bit more than the last time so you can use them for longer.”

From then on, Ianthe followed a strict schedule. Wake up, eat breakfast, work, train, eat dinner, sleep and repeat.

Her training took place underground the library, where Frances had a whole weapons artillery/gym.

It was tiring and she felt like giving up too often for her liking.

But it paid off.

…

Ianthe looked up in awe at what she had created.

“Are you seeing this, boss?” she asked Frances, who for once also seemed to be shocked.

So, he does have emotions!

After enough training, Ianthe had concentrated all she had to create a huge water dragon.

“I can’t believe you managed to do this, in such a short amount of time. It hasn’t even been a month.” Frances looked at her with a soft gaze. 

“But you are a mermaid so this should have been expected.”

“Coming from you boss, that means a lot.” Ianthe gave him a wide grin.

“I think you’re ready.”

“Ready? For what?”

“Your first job as a body guard. There’s a small business exchange I have to attend next week. I doubt anything will happen but just in case I want you there with me. Prepare all you can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I wonder who'll be present at the meeting?


	6. Fated Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is here, Frances' "small" business meeting. I wonder who'll we'll meet?

“Absolutely not.”

“What? Come on! It’ll be fun.”

“For you, yes but torture for me.”

“It’s not like I’m asking you to put on a maid dress…Can I ask you that?”

“…”

Frances had enough of the conversation and walked away, leaving Ianthe to sulk.

All she wanted was to braid his hair. It was so silky and smooth, it reminded her of the ocean, but Frances was adamant on staying away from his hair. It was even on the rule book.

Frances had guessed right they would need a rule book, he assumed correctly that Ianthe would need to follow a lot of rules because she would be too much a bother otherwise.

For Ianthe however…a bunch of stupid rules won’t stop her from getting what she wants.

“Oh right, make sure you’re ready after your shift is finished. Tonight’s the night.”

Yes, the night where Frances “small” business deal will take place. She assumed it was more dangerous than he made it out to be because he refused to: Tell. Her. A. Single. Thing.

…

“We’re here.” Frances driver said pulling in front of a building with flashing lights and blaring music. Ianthe had to pretend the noise didn’t bother her.

“This is a nightclub. Are we in the right place?” Ianthe asked Frances in the back of the limo. Yes, a limo. He really likes flashy entrances. Behind them was a trail of black SUV’s filled with Frances “employees” who totally did not have illegal weapons with them. They were totally not participating in a weapons deal.

“Perfect place to do business,” Frances said.

“It’s such an obvious an obvious place to do business!”

Seeing Frances wouldn’t reply she continued, “Also how are you going to bring all the cases inside? It’s not like we can just stroll in through the front.”

“There’s a secret door leading to the basement. Stop worrying, just focus on protecting me.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Let’s go.”

Ianthe exited the car first, looking around before signalling an “okay” sign to Frances. When his men also came out, she couldn’t help but think how suspicious they all looked, they were all dressed in suits, many wore sunglasses (even though the moon was out) and had the traditional Bluetooth in their ears. Ianthe was a little different, she had to wear a black V-neck to hide her gills, with it a black blazer. Of course, her trusty bottle of water was attached to her hip.

They walked to the “special” entrance which just ended up being the back door. Ianthe led them with Frances in the middle having two men by his side and the rest carrying the equipment behind them.

When they were all inside, the loud music began to sound number.

One of the men of the person they were meeting tonight opened a door for them. This person caught Ianthe’s attention. Maybe it was the baby face he sported (or the extremely cute smile present on his face) completed with bright green eyes and blonde hair. It seemed his attention was on Ianthe too, she quickly looked away before he caught her stare. She had to focus on the deal.

Andre Dayak was the man they were meeting. Frances had in his possession certain weapons Andre needed. What he needed them for, she didn’t know. Where Frances got these weapons from, she also didn’t know nor did she question it.

I have a bad feeling about this…

The room they were now in was spacious enough to fit Andre’s men and Frances’ along with the numerous furniture. In the middle was couch, on it a man was sitting, Ianthe assumed this was Andre Dayak.

He looked like your typical sleazy criminal guy you see in movies. A red suit, with a scrubby face and a grin that made Ianthe’s insides churn in disgust. She was aware of how his attention was immediately on her.

Andre got up, greeting Frances with a hug.

“It’s been a while,” he said.

“Hmm.” Seems Frances didn’t like him either, but he didn’t like anyone.

“Please sit.” Andre indicated to the sofa opposite to his.

Ianthe placed herself right the sofa Frances was sitting on and observed the people around them.

All the men with Frances all looked the same to Ianthe but Andre had some who stood out.

First was the guy who let them in, then there was this really short guy with spiky black hair.

Why is there a child in here?

There was also a guy with a large build and while the others were wearing suits this one was straight up in shorts. He reminded Ianthe of an old werewolf movie with low budget.

There was also a guy with no eyebrows. He made it look really good though.

And lastly, the only girl she could see on Andre’s side, but this one had bright pink hair.

Oh no, she’s hot.

While Ianthe was observing these people, she failed to see them do the same to her or that Andre and Frances’ conversation had shifted to her.

“How much more do I have to pay if I get the girl too?” Andre asked, pointing a finger at her.

Ianthe didn’t even bother to hide her disgust, shooting the man a glare. She failed to see the numerous glares he was receiving from many people in the room. She could see Frances posture tense up and knew he was mad.

“She’s not for sale.” Frances responded calmly.

“Oh come on! I’ll pay twice than I was originally going to.”  
“All the money in the world wouldn’t convince me to spend even a minute with you.” Ianthe replied.

“I hear you’re a man who likes to collect many artifacts for his library. Maybe this will convince you.” Andre gestured to one of his men to go get something.

Ianthe could barely hide her anger, the audacity of this man to ignore me and assume Frances owns me!

The man returned quickly, in his hand carrying a box with red liquid in it.

“In here is the blood of a mermaid. They say the blood of a mermaid has amazing healing qualities; it can even bring a person back to life.”

Frances glanced at Ianthe, surprised to see how calm she was. Whenever he brought up the massacre of the mermaids in front of her, she would always release a menacing aura. There wasn’t much he was afraid of, but he was definitely afraid of what she could do in that state.

Ianthe sent him a reassuring nod, hoping he would get the message she was trying to convey.

It seemed he did.

“I don’t want that either.”

“Well we do.” This time the voice came from the blonde who had raised his gun along with all the others Ianthe had observed. All of them wasted no time in shooting both sides.

Ianthe was quick to create a shield around her and Frances. The guns had killed Andre, his men and Frances’ men.

Well shit, I did see this coming. Hmm, death really looks good on the douchebag.

“We got what we come here for, let’s go,” pinkie said.

“Seems like we missed some,” blondie said, nodding his head at them.

They raised their guns again, but this time Ianthe created the dragon she had mastered however this time it was much bigger taking over the room and leaving her and Frances on one side with them on the other.

The people began shooting again but to their surprise the bullets bounced of the dragon like it was made of steel. The dragon roared in their faces.

Shalnark couldn’t hide his amazement, the dragon looked like it had the rigidity of water, but it was extremely tough, and it seemed to be alive. It seems they had underestimated the intriguing girl.

Ianthe on the other hand wasted no time in picking Frances up bridal style and speeding out of there. She knew they had to be quick because the second she left the room; the dragon would dissolve. She avoided the cars they came in, knowing they wouldn’t be as fast as her. She had to get to the hotel quick.

Back in the room, the troupe were fascinated as their attacks did nothing on the dragon that still did not move to attack them when all of a sudden it dissolved into a huge puddle in the room.

“That was…” Machi trailed off.

“I want to fight that girl!” Phinks yelled. Feitan just stayed quiet but looked deep in thought, all he was thinking about was the anger he had felt when the bastard wanted to buy her.

“Well, the mermaid blood survived.” Shalnark said, holding the container and shaking it. “However, I doubt this is the real thing.”

…

“How did you not freak out when he showed the blood?” Frances asked Ianthe back in their hotel room. The hotel they were staying in wasn’t as grand as Frances was used to, their room consisted of two beds, a TV stand, a dresser and a bathroom. They had come up with this plan in case something went wrong. They would check under Ianthe’s name and the reason they had chosen this hotel was because it was built under an old system of tunnels. In the room they had chosen, there was a small door behind the dresser leading to these tunnels and essentially to the city. They had also come with the plan to check in to numerous places around York New under her name.

“Well boss it’s simple. Why would he give up the last of the ‘mermaid blood’ just to own a girl? Even if the girl is someone as amazing as me, I would never have done that in a deal. It would’ve been a loss. This led me to two conclusions. One,” Ianthe said, lifting up one finger, “he was planning on killing you and your men so he could keep the weapons, money, blood and me. And two,” this time she lifted a second finger, “it wasn’t mermaid blood. Which it wasn’t because I couldn’t sense an aura belonging to a mermaid. Also, our blood is not red.”

“Aura?” Frances questioned thinking: I’m not even going to question the blood thing.

“Each species has a different aura; individuals can have auras a little different to others but nevertheless still have an aura belonging to their species. Humans have a really hard to read aura which makes them stand out a lot. I could sense the aura of a human on that container, so I deduced it belonged to a human.”

“What would you have done if it did belong to a mermaid.”

“Let’s not talk about that. Boss, what are we going to do about those people?”

“Nothing. They wanted the blood, they got it. Unless…” Frances trailed off, with a thoughtful look on his face, his hand under his chin.

“Unless?” Ianthe wasn’t liking the look on his face. It was his I-did-something-bad face.

“Unless they originally came for the bounty, I put on myself and came across the blood accidently and went for that instead. I think I’m correct on this because absolutely no one knew Andre even had something like that in his possession.”

“You put a bounty on yourself…?” Ianthe could see the dumfounded expression on her face.

“Yes. I did it to test your ability. I wanted to see if you could handle the pressure.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“No. That would be an inconvenience on my life so let’s not do that.”

“It would be therapy for mine, so I say let’s do it.” Ianthe raised her hand, set on strangling the man in front of her.

“…I’ll let you braid my hair.”

She instantly brightened up until a thought hit her.

“We need to leave.” She dragged Frances to the hidden door, pulling it open. “We can’t stay here.”

They ran down the corridor that would lead to the tunnels.

“Can you explain to me why we’re running?”

“Well, if it’s the bounty they want and they figure out the blood doesn’t belong to a human, we’re in trouble. Think about it, who doesn’t know you? You’re a public figure, almost everyone knows who you are. And I’m sure those people, whoever they are, did their research, so they definitely are aware of you and the library. All it takes is a skilled hacker who can access your employee files and they’ll find my information. With that information they can use the websites limited to Hunters to find the places we had checked in and despite us taking precautions, they’ll split up and come to this hotel anyways. Even if there’s no guarantee for all of this, it’s a risk we can’t take.” She stopped talking to catch her breath. “Until the bounty is gone, you can’t be in York New anymore so buy a ticket away from here. I’ll accompany you to the boat.”

“You won’t come with me?”

“No. The first place they’ll search is the library. I have something there I need to protect. I know you can take care of yourself; you don’t even need bodyguards. Besides I'll catch the next boat when I get what I need.”

This was true despite him barely showing it because he had told Ianthe he liked to make his opponents think he was weak and wanted to maintain the element of surprise, Frances was very skilled in fighting. He had taught her after all.

“Fine. Just be careful.”

…

She carefully made her way back to library. It had been a quick goodbye with Frances as the both of them were confident in each other and knew neither would get badly hurt.

Frances had told her about nen (well he tried to, but it was so confusing for her that he gave up). Ianthe knew she didn’t have this so it was hard for her to tell if someone was following her because they could easily hide it. She didn’t know if those people had learned to use theirs, but she didn’t want to take any risks when her life was at stake.

She would’ve accompanied him but something very important to her was at the library. It was a necklace. She knew it was stupid to expose herself for a mere necklace, but it was the last thing Ada had given her. She never wore it due to the fear of damaging it. Just the thought of leaving it gave her a sick feeling.

She reached the locked doors of the library and used her keys to unlock it. In her hurry, she failed to recognise the figure of one of the troupe member watching her.

After locking the door behind her, Ianthe rushed to her room. She pulled out a box from under her bed, this box contained the original items she had came with, most of them unnecessary but they reminded her of Ada and Devlin in some ways.

Her above apartment looked completely different from when she first stepped foot in it. The closet in her room was now filled to the brim with clothes (Frances made sure she a variety of clothes at her disposal). The walls of her room were originally a white colour, but she had persuaded Frances to colour them a light shade of pink when she had decided that would be her favourite colour. The walls were now also decorated of many photos of her and Frances, most of them where she was clearly annoying the shit out of him and some were with the girls she had met. There was also the one picture Ada had taken with her. It was when Ianthe was new to technology so Ada thought it would be funny to surprise her by taking a flash picture of them both. So, Ada creeped up behind her when Ianthe was sitting on the couch, brought the camera in front of her and took a picture. At first when she saw the picture she was very mad at Ada and didn’t talk to her for a day (she was planning to ignore her for longer but Ada promised her food to get her to talk to her again) but now all she could do was smile bitterly when she saw it.

Ianthe was also a little bit of a slob, so bits of her clothes were thrown around her room, her bed wasn’t made (what was the point of making it, if she was going to ruin it later anyways?) and let’s not even talk about the state of her bathroom. The one clean area in her apartment was the kitchen, she saw that space as sacred and never dirtied it.

She held the necklace up, it was gold necklace and had a simple gold heart charm attached to the chain. The necklace had was given to Ada by her mother who had received it from her mother and so on. This was also one of the contributing factors as to why Ianthe couldn’t leave it behind because Ada had declared Ianthe as her daughter by giving it to her.

A loud thud startled her out of her thoughts.

“Pretty lady, I know you’re up there! Come down and let’s fight!” A loud booming voice called out.

Shit.

She contemplated jumping out of the window but something inside her wanted to listen to the voice and before she could think, her body was already making its way downstairs to the library.

She realised the loud thud were the doors of the library being ripped open. It seems this person did not care about making a scene to the public at all.

The voice had come from the werewolf-looking-wannabe she saw back at nightclub. He perked up when he saw her, but her stare was directed at the rows of bookshelves he had pushed down.

“There you are! I don’t want to hurt such a pretty girl like you so why don’t you just tell me where your boss is, and I’ll leave you alone.” Wolfie grinned at her.

“As much as I want to agree to that, I can’t so let’s finish this. I have a boat to catch.”

Despite wanting to let her go, more now that he realised he loved to hear her voice, Wolfie seemed to be genuinely happy that he got to fight her, showing her his sharp teeth as he grinned once again.

The both of them circled each other for a bit until they dashed at the other with startling speed.

Wolfie seemed to be someone who relied on his brute strength. He had the build too. As she expected, he threw a punch, but she quickly caught his fist and flipped him down to the floor.

Both parties grew shocked as their bodies began to glow.

Ianthe was so astounded that she didn’t even realise that Wolfie, still laying down on the floor with her towering over him, reached up to caress her cheek. She let his hand go at the contact, it leaving her breathless.

Seeing her temporarily paralysed state, Wolfie used this as an opportunity to get up from the floor.

“Well, what a turn of events huh?”

Ianthe still didn’t reply as her gaze returned to the mess of the library.

Wolfie followed her gaze and couldn’t help but feel guilty at the sad look on her face.

“I’ll clean it up,” Wolfie promised, wanting that look to go away from her face.

Ianthe gave him her keys.

“My apartment is upstairs.” She pinched her nose. “You stink, go take a shower. I’ll deal with this.”

Wolfie looked dejected but still did what she said and disappeared up the stairs.

Ianthe knew she was being cold but just a few minutes ago, he didn’t mind the idea of killing her and now he was her soulmate! Even back at the nightclub when she had summoned her dragon, she made sure it was only there for defence and didn’t hurt any of them since she couldn’t bare the idea of hurting them. But he along with his comrades didn’t even hesitate to raise those guns and shoot at her.

She used cleaning up the library and calling someone to fix the door as a excuse to think clearly about this situation. Ever since she awoke in that underwater cave, all of her actions had been careless and rushed but this was something that she had to think about before jumping in. She had to ignore the desire to go see Wolfie, even if it was all her mind, heart and body wanted to do.

Cleaning the library took some time so she got worried when Wolfie had yet to come down. She went up the stairs and knocked on the door.

“Everything okay?”

Silence.

“I’m coming in.”

She opened the door and walked in just as Wolfie came out of her bathroom, having only a towel covering his lower half of the body.

Ianthe froze as she stared at his body, she knew it was shameless to do so but she couldn’t help it. He had a large build and was no doubt very muscular. She was feeling something she had never felt before.

When Wolfie saw where she was looking, he couldn’t help the grin that took over his face and the feeling of proudness he felt for himself.

Finally snapping herself out of her staring, Ianthe cleared her throat and looked up at his face that had a I-know-what-you-were-doing look on it. “I’m Ianthe. What’s your name?”

Baby steps but it’ll do for now.

“Uvogin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I rewrote this chapter about five times before deciding to just publish this. I didn’t want to mess up writing the troupe, especially since all of them are complex characters so please tell me if they seem out of character!


	7. Oh, shit here we go again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see how much Ianthe's and Uvogin relationship has developed and a new person makes their way into Ianthe's life.

She awoke to strong arms wrapped around her.

“Uvo, I can’t breathe,” Ianthe groaned in discomfort. It seemed to be a recurring theme for him to nearly crush her when they were sleeping.

Uvogin stirred in his sleep before finally waking up to see Ianthe’s frustrated expression staring back at him. He chuckled; she was too cute.

He loosened his grip on her and placed a kiss on her shoulder. “Sorry.”

“One of these you’ll wake up and realise you’ve killed me,” she grumpily replied. As much as she loved cuddling, she didn’t like the promise of death it was giving her. She got up and entered the bathroom, Uvogin didn’t have many shirts nor did he like wearing them but luckily for her, she loved wearing his.

I know what you’re thinking, what about her eyes? How is she okay with showing them around him and not fearing him finding out what she really is?

Well, Ianthe purposely “forgot” her contacts around him so he would ask her about them…but he never once commented on them. Either he noticed them changing colours all the time and just didn’t care or he really didn’t realise. She didn’t really know how to break the news of her being a mermaid to him either. Moments like these made her just want to hide away from humans so she could avoid confrontation.

It had now been two months since they originally met. The first week was filled with awkward meetings and silence. Both parties didn’t know how to act around one another (well Uvogin knew what he wanted but he knew his soulmate was hesitant and he didn’t want to push anything on her).

Uvogin was an interesting person, he never carried anything with him, no money or anything and just stole whatever it was he wanted. Since he didn’t have a place to stay, Ianthe told him he could stay with her. Though she would never tell him, but she had felt so much joy at his bright expression when she offered him to stay. She had made him happy!

They got closer once he had shared to her about the place he grew up in, Meteor City but he had yet to tell her about the Troupe. Ianthe in return told him about how she woke up, injured with no memories of her life. She then told him about meeting Ada and Devlin and spending the next few years of her life with her mother figure. Uvogin was a little jealous at the soft smile that came across her face when she talked about the people she loved, he wanted her to smile like that for him.

The incident had been cleared up on the day they had met, Frances had cancelled the bounty on him but stayed away from York New for a couple of weeks in case some people didn’t get the message. Ianthe had told him about meeting her soulmate and how she had no idea what to do and he simply replied, “Just deal with it.”

She had never felt such rage at a person before.

Similarly, Uvogin had told the troupe about Ianthe. Well he told Nobunaga considering they were close and then Nobunaga went and blabbed to the rest of them. They were all very happy for him and understood that he wanted to stay with her for a while, they didn’t really have any big missions to carry out together so there was no need for them to stay together.

Ianthe got him to help her out around the library because now that Frances was gone she had even more responsibilities put on her.

However, hiring him proved to be a great mistake.

He would often end up knocking over bookshelf’s and he didn’t understand how the system for the books worked.

Ianthe couldn’t blame him, fighting was his specialty and she had no doubt he was an amazing opponent.

But other issues also arose, people were scared of him. He was a large human, he looked like a werewolf come to life and barely wore clothes.

He was also a very jealous person, possessive even.

When Ianthe had been hired by Frances, word had gotten around about how beautiful she was. Naturally, many people came to see if the rumours were true (which they were). Neither Frances or Ianthe cared because more people visiting the library meant more money and they both loved money.

Everyday there would a select group of confident people who would come up to her and ask her out which she obviously always denied. Before meeting Uvogin, the thought of dating humans made her want to puke.

It was a normal day at the library, Ianthe was behind the counter and Uvogin was around somewhere. A scrawny young looking boy came over to her, at first Ianthe thought he needed help but realised his intentions at the smug smirk he wore on his face.

Still she put on her customer smile and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

The boy licked his lips, staring at her chest with a disgusting smile. “Yes, you can. Help me by giving me your number.”

Uninterested, Ianthe pulled out her phone to text Frances about the day’s earnings. “I don’t have a phone.”

The boy, who for some reason couldn’t take a hint and figured he was entitled to her, grabbed her phone out of her hand. “And what is this?” He angrily screamed at her, capturing the attention of people around them. “You aren’t even that attractive, stop thinking you’re something.”

Ianthe gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I’m not the one asking you out, now am I? I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

The boy suddenly froze and looked at something over her shoulder in fear.

She didn’t have to turn around because she could just feel Uvogin’s bloodlust.

“How about I show him out?” Uvogin grinned sadistically at the boy who looked like he was going to shit his pants.

The boy quickly put her phone back on the counter and hurried out of the library, his friends also got their things and followed him.

Ianthe turned around and glared at Uvogin.

“Seriously?”

For the first time in his life, Uvogin was dreading the next words that might come out of her mouth.

“You can’t act like that in the library, it’ll give us a bad reputation. Next time, follow the person outside and then beat their ass out there and not in here, okay?”

Needless to say, the people learned to not to ask her out in fear of their lives.

Living with Uvogin was definitely something.

In the bathroom, Ianthe brushed her teeth and washed her face. Uvogin was still on the bed, so she figured she would take a quick bath and dry herself off.

She was looking forward to today because the girls she had met when she first stepped foot in York New had got back to her and wanted to hang out with her today.

They were astonished when Ianthe had told them she had never gone clubbing before and demanded that they were going to take her.

After she had dried and her tail changed to legs, she got dressed in her normal attire and went back out.

Uvogin was now up and grabbed her by the hips and pushed her towards him. He placed a quick kiss on her forehead. He was going to leave for a couple of days but promised her he would return as soon as possible.

…

Uvogin had now left. Her shift at the library was done and she was patiently waiting for her friends to come over.

Friends.

She had only found a friend in Devlin so to get more made her happy.

The group of girls she had found were a group of three and with her, they made a quartet. The girls would often say that she completed them. True to their promise, they had taken her out to see places York New had to offer. They never once questioned how she didn’t know much, they never pressured her into anything. Seeing she could trust them, Ianthe told them about how she had lost her memory and one of them cried! For her!

They were all also very affectionate (rivalling Uvogin) and so Ianthe found out she was very touch starved and always welcomed it.

There was Niza, she was a very athletic person. She was someone who was closed off to people she didn’t know but very open to those she did.

Then there was Tanaya, a small petite girl who at first glance, people might think was shy, but she was the most outgoing one of them all.

Lastly, Deya and Ianthe had a similar build. Both didn’t really follow the ideal body expectation. They had more fat on their bodies and a more muscular build. Deya was a little bit on the quiet side but she was the mother of the group, often babying Ianthe.

“Hey Ian, your day is brightened now that I’m here!” Tanaya declared, puffing her chest out.

Ianthe let out a small chuckle at the girl’s childish antics.

“Is that really what you’re wearing?” Tanaya questioned, pointing at Ianthe’s outfit.

“Yeah. Is something wrong with them?”

“Duh. You always wear those clothes.” The girl suddenly grabbed her hands, pulling her to her apartment. “Come on. We’re going to find you something better to wear.”

Ianthe sent a “help me” look to the other two who could only look at her sympathy.

“Try not to take too much time,” Deya warned them.

Tanaya was the devil when it came to fashion, when Ianthe had told them of her limitations in clothes (before Frances practically bought her an entire store of clothes), she dragged the poor girl to a shopping trip. The trip took forever since Tanaya couldn’t find something she liked on Ianthe. At the end of it, Ianthe looked like a walking corpse, too tired to even move. She was convinced that this would be waiting for her in hell.

Thankfully, they were on a tight schedule so Tanaya wasn’t going to take too long.

Tanaya was also aware that Ianthe didn’t like her neck showing so it was going to be a challenge to find something that would suit a club and cover her neck.

In the end she settled for a red bodycon dress and made Ianthe try it out.

When Ianthe came out from the bathroom, Tanaya had sparkles in her eyes and had to stop the nosebleed she was sporting.

“Omg, Tana, are you okay?” Ianthe rushed to her friend in concern.

“Yes don’t worry about me, you look ethereal,” Tanaya gave her a thumbs up, with blood still trickling down her nose.

They made their way back downstairs where the other two girls also complimented her and they got in Deya’s car and drove off.

…

To no one’s surprise, Tanaya was drunk.

The actual surprise was that Niza was also drunk.

Deya hadn’t had a sip of alcohol as she was the designated driver and Ianthe was having too much fun in seeing her friend’s idiotic behaviour while drunk to drink herself.

Tanaya was currently dancing on one of the counters. “I’m a fish!” she yelled to the crowd who cheered for her. "You're a fish!" Some random person yelled back.

Deya shook her head at her friends’ antics and turned to Ianthe. “Are you going to drink?”

“I’ve never drank before.”

Deya gently took her wrist and walked her to the bartender. She ordered a shot. (Idk how alcohol works).

“Try this,” Deya pushed the shot towards her.

Ianthe picked up the small glass and hesitated.

“You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to. I’ll just give it to the other two.” Deya assured her.

“No, I’ll have it.” Ianthe downed the shot in one gulp, coughing at her bitterness. “Oh, that’s strong…I like it,” she grinned at Deya.

“Don’t worry about the price, this night is on me.”

Deya than offered her hand to Ianthe. “Dance with me.”

And they did.

Ianthe knew she didn’t have a lot of alcohol, but it was really affecting her.

She was too drunk to realise the blue eyes watching her.

Machi scoffed.

She was called by someone to heal their wounds in York New and went since they would be paying her and was on her way back to her hotel when she saw a familiar girl enter the club, surrounded by three other girls.

Isn’t that Uvogin’s…

She didn’t know why she entered the club, but she didn’t like the idea of this girl being in such a place.

Machi was quick to glare at anyone that tried to hit on her. She watched as the girl looked over people, she assumed were her friends. Then she watched as the girl barely drank alcohol and got affected by it. She’s a lightweight it seems.

She also watched as the girl got up to join her friend who was sober to dance. The girl’s cheeks were flushed red and her movement was sloppy.

Since the club was big, the girl soon lost sight of her friends but hadn’t even registered it.

Machi began making her way towards the girl before anyone else could get their hands on her.

Uvogin you owe me one.

She gently held the girl in her arms.

Both of their bodies began to glow.

Both of them looked at each other in shock.

However, the girl was too far gone and passed out in Machi’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit had to think so hard to figure out names that would suit the HxH world. Also I'm very gay for the girls of the Troupe and can't wait to write more about them. If same sex relationships make you uncomfortable then leave~
> 
> Also I think if the Troupe had a significant other they genuinely cared about who weren't just a plaything (I'm looking at you Hisoka) they would be extremely possessive over them. 


	8. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of Ianthe passing out in Machi's arms.

Machi didn’t know what to do, so she brought the girl back to her hotel room.

She laid the girl gently on her bed and took her shoes off, so the girl could be more comfortable. She didn’t dare change her clothes, sure they were soulmates, but they didn’t know each other at all. She didn’t even know her name.

Machi was very confused. Didn’t Uvogin say this girl was his soulmate so why did they both glow when they touched. She was also filled with newfound feelings such as complete adoration for the girl on her bed. She looked so peaceful, Machi caressed her face with her finger being careful not to wake the girl up.

She moved away from the girl and undid her ponytail. She had to go buy some medicine for the hangover the girl would have.

…

A short while later, Machi was still out and Ianthe began to stir.

She opened her eyes; the world was still blurry around her and it took a while for her eyes to get used to it. As her vision was making its way back to her, Ianthe became aware of the huge headache she had. She clutched her head and groaned in pain.

I’m never drinking alcohol again.

She started thinking of the events that led to this: Uvogin left, the girls came over and they left for the club. She watched them for a while before finally drinking herself and then she danced with Deya. She remembered that they got separated but she was too drunk to care and ended up in the arms of a woman who looked really familiar.

Ianthe’s eyes widened. She looked down at her body, the body that glowed when they had touched just like it had when her and Uvogin touched.

No way…

She didn’t remember anything after that.

As her senses started coming back to her, she finally realised the room she was in didn’t look familiar to her at all. It looked like a hotel room. She was still in her clothes and looking around she saw her shoes neatly placed by the door.

The door!  
She got up quickly and ignored the queasy feeling that came over her body. She put her shoes on, grabbed her purse next to her and opened the door, thanking the Ocean that it wasn’t locked. Only to come face to face with Pinkie.

Now getting a closer look at Pinkie’s face, Ianthe realised the reason the girl seemed familiar was because she was present at the meeting with Andre.

Machi was shocked that the girl had woken up so quickly and was recovering fine from the effects of alcohol.

For a while they both started at each other not able to move until Machi took the initiative to grab the girl and steer her back to the bed, a small part of her happy at how the girl shuddered at her touch. Okay she lied, a big part.

“I don’t think you should go out in that condition,” she softly explained.

“How long was I out?” Ianthe finally gained the confidence to speak.

“Not long. An hour at most, next time be careful with how much you drink. Alcohol has a strong effect on you.” Machi held up the bag in her hand. “In here is some medicine that might help with the headache I’m sure you have. There’s a bottle of water in there, too.”

Ianthe gladly took the medicine. “Thank you,” she smiled at Pinkie.

“What’s your name?”

I can’t keep calling you Pinkie forever.

“It’s Machi. You?”

“Ianthe. Nice to meet you Machi.”

Machi really like her name coming out of Ianthe’s mouth.

Machi moved to sit on the bed beside Ianthe, she didn’t like the idea of being too far from her. When she saw how Ianthe’s entire body was turned towards her, the girl even leaning closer to her unconsciously she had to hide her smugness. She reached out to tuck a stray strand that Ianthe wasn’t aware of because she was too busy staring at her. 

“Well,” Ianthe started, “we have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to say this but this is the first story I've written so it's not going to be perfect. Just reading it over again and again I see many areas of improvement so I will be heavily editing this book once I'm done with it. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some snippets of what Ianthe and Uvogin did in the two months they met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: a little bit of gore, they make out heavily (not really a trigger warning)

It amazed her exactly how much her and Uvogin had in common.

They were both competitive.

_A hand was slammed hard onto the table._

_Ianthe jumped up and yelled, “Victory!”_

_“No! Re-do, I demand a re-do! You cheated!” Uvogin growled._

_Ianthe laughed in his face. “You’re just mad I won and now you have to be my bitch for the rest of the week.”_

_It had been a normal morning until Uvogin proposed an arm-wrestling contest. He had been curious about her strength as she had managed to pummel him to the ground in their first meeting._

_The game would go for ten rounds and whoever won at the end of it would do whatever the other wanted for the rest of the week. Ianthe was happy to do it, she could him do all of her responsibilities!_

_It was a tough game with him winning some rounds but in the end she won._

_She was going to remember his sour face forever, he looked like a child who was just refused a toy they wanted. It was a shame she didn’t take a picture of him._

From then on, the both of them started making everything into a competition, who could wash the dishes the fastest or who could transport the goods the fastest. They even brought out their competitive sides in battle.

_Frances had wanted her to “take care” of some competition and she had asked Uvogin to come along._

_“That’s seven,” Uvogin said, crushing the head of a guy who had tried to sneak up on him._

_“Seven? How weak. I’ve got fourteen,” Ianthe replied, cracking the neck of another guy. “Make that fifteen.”_

_Uvogin then grinned at her._

_Her stomach dropped._

_“No! You are not doing that thing! That’s-“she was cut off as he let out a loud thunderous roar, immediately she covered her ears thankful she had reacted fast._

_All the men rushing at them dropped dead._

_She turned to glare at him._

_“What?” He shrugged at her. “We never agreed I couldn’t do that.”_

_He quickly counted all the bodies. “Oh, would you look at that? That makes my total twenty-eight. I win. You’re my bitch now.”_

_“I hate you.”_

_  
“No you don’t.”_

_  
“I hate you right now.”_

_Uvogin wasn’t going to lie, seeing Ianthe crush those men like they were just pesky flies gave him a little…let’s call it a “problem”._

Needless to say, their small competitions never ended, one would win then the other would do the same, they had even lost count of who was in the lead. There was however…one memory she would always remember vividly.

_Ianthe landed on the floor with a thud. She groaned in pain and massaged her back._

_A large hand also caressed her back, Uvogin had leant down next to her, he had a guilty expression on his face. “I didn’t mean to go too hard.” Which was true, he was just a little distracted at the clothes she was wearing._

_As part of her training, Frances suggested she fight with Uvogin to which both of them agreed. Uvogin thought nothing of it until she had showed up, in tight leggings and a sports bra. Ianthe was an extremely gorgeous woman, but he hadn’t really felt these urges (okay that’s a lie he definitely felt them but not due to what she was wearing) as she didn’t really show a lot of skin._

_Unknown to him this was because of Ianthe’s personal motto. “If people want to see her body, they’ll have to pay.”_

_“Get that bag, sis,” Tanaya had responded._

_He had tried hard to not look but it was hard. He was so focused on controlling himself he hadn’t realised she had thrown herself at him and in panic threw her to the floor._

_Ianthe grinned at him. “That was awesome!” she jumped in as a rush of excitement took over her. Now this was a real competition. “Let’s go again.”_

_And they did, this time Ianthe had managed to get the upper hand and manoeuvred her body around his to make it fall on the padded mats. She was left straddling him. She was about to say something cocky in response when she felt his hand cradle her face, an action where she unconsciously leaned into._

_Uvogin moved his body so he was sitting too, with her still in his lap. He brought his face closer to hers, their foreheads nearly touching._

_“Can I kiss you?” he whispered to her._

_“Yes,” she whispered back._

_His lips met hers, he had been with people before but none of them had made his heart beat as fast as Ianthe did. He didn’t even like the nervousness he was feeling._

_His hand was rested on the back of her head while she had hers around his neck._

_They broke apart for air._

_“Was that your first kiss?” he asked her. Ianthe nodded her head in response before kissing him again, she loved how euphoric it felt. She never wanted it to end._

_…_

_“I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Frances checked his watch. He knew the two were sparring but this was taking too long._

_He had been hesitant when he found out Uvogin was her soulmate he was afterall the same guy who had tried to kill both him and Ianthe. When his bounty had died down and he deemed it safe to go back, they met. And the both of them immediately hated each other._

_He still remembered the way Uvogin had glared at him behind Ianthe’s back and Frances, like the child he was, did the same when she turned around._

_They managed to remain civil around one another for Ianthe’s sake but she had caught on to the animosity between the two and made sure neither was left alone with the other._

_A little worried about Ianthe’s wellbeing since she was fighting a beast, he went down to the basement._

_The couple were still making out and despite wanting to gouge his eyes out at the sight, he brought his phone out and took a picture. This would be good teasing material. He forgot the flash was on and the click alerted the couple. Ianthe’s face turned red when she saw him standing there._

_“Frances!” she got off Uvogin’s lap and lunged at him. “Delete it!”_

_Frances took off back up the stairs, she chased after him._

_Poor Uvogin was left behind with an intense hatred for the idiot who had interrupted his time with his girl._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I had an exam today so I wrote a whole chapter to deal with the stress of not knowing if I passed or not. 
> 
> Anyways I have realised I have a thing for buff, strong 3D men who can and would kill me with one strike…actually, I have a thing for anyone who can kill me.
> 
> New kink unlocked: Death.


	10. A/N

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update

Hey so I'm sorry for not updating this book because a lot of things happened.  
My mum and I got into a huge fight which ended with my laptop smashed to pieces (this story was on there) and a huge glass tray was thrown at me! So that's nice.  
Fortunately I'm okay but I ran away from home and am getting help from a crisis centre. Until I settle down and decide what I'm going to do, I won't be able to update.   
Sorry.


	11. Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uvogin becomes aware of the situation.

_Frances Edmond was an enigma_.

Well to most who has heard about him.

No one was really close to him. His employees were told to keep a safe distance from his personal life and his business partners were just that, _business only._

That being said if you were to tell anyone that he was currently listening to an approximately twenty-one year old mermaid about her love problems, they wouldn’t take you seriously.

He had been currently enjoying a day off, choosing to spend it holed up in his house with the only company of his cat, Arlo Edmond.

Arlo had been found by Ianthe, abandoned near the library and left for dead. With not much life in him, the mermaid had rushed to the nearest vet as fast as she could and had it not been for her great speed, Arlo wouldn’t have made it.

The second she had seen his beautiful green eyes and what she thought was black fur (it was covered in filth and had become a murky brown colour), she knew they had to keep it. She begged Frances on the phone to let him become the mascot for the library but he refused. So, she came up with the idea to take Arlo to Frances, who would charm the stoic man with his cuteness. And that’s exactly what happened, Frances couldn’t say no to Arlo and adopted him.

If you were to ask Frances what a photo of a beautiful ebony-haired woman with a cat in her arm and a closed-eyes, wide smile with teeth showing on her face, doing in his house, he would hold a gun to your head and threaten you to never speak of it again.

…

He had awoken in the afternoon, with no thoughts of needing hurry to anywhere and felt peaceful. He proceeded to feed Arlo and give him a quick pet and then made breakfast for himself. He was just about to enjoy a sip of his coffee when his door opened with a loud bang, making him drop the cup.

“BOSS I NEED YOU,” yelled a familiar voice.

Said man could feel his eyebrow twitch in unscathed anger.

The face of the mermaid, whom he was already regretting the decision to hire her, came into the kitchen.

Ianthe saw the broken cup on the floor and chose to ignore the hideous face Frances was making at her. “You really need to stop being so clumsy,” she retorted.

She saw the plate of food on the counter and before Frances realised what was happening, she was already half way done eating the plate.

“Alright that’s it. Get out!” yelled Frances. _Why did I ever give you the key to my house?_

He stormed to his room and Ianthe followed. Arlo who was lounging on his bed, perked his head up at the commotion.

“Hi baby, Auntie Ian is here,” cooed Ianthe, flopping on Frances’ bed and cuddling the adorable cat who purred at her touch.

“What do you want, you vile creature.” Frances glared at her from then chair he was sitting on.

“Well you know how I met my ‘mate? I was out with the girls and having fun at a club when I realised that alcohol and me are not a good combination. I ended up passing out in the arms of an extremely gorgeous pink haired girl and we both glowed when we touched. You should’ve seen her eyes, I could look at them for all of eternity,” Ianthe had a far-away look in her eyes as she began to daydream of Machi.

Her encounter left Frances in shock. Not only did was she lucky to meet her soulmate, she has two?

It was a very rare occurrence but it is possible to have more than one soulmate. The chances of meeting one is already so small and two was micro, let’s not even talk about having three and meeting all of them.

Snapping out of it, Ianthe continued, “We talked and decided that we should wait until Uvo comes back to York New. We also decided to hold off on any affection because until he knows because it feels like cheating. But I have no idea what to even say to him! Do I go ‘Hey remember how we’re soulmates? Well turns out I have another one! Isn’t that great?…Actually that might work.”

“No it wouldn’t. You need to ease him into it,” Frances was thankful his dim witted friend had come to him, who knows what she would’ve said to the guy. Yes, he absolutely despised Uvogin but he still had sympathy.

“Well that’s not even all. Machi was also present on the disastrous meeting with Andre Dayak. She also tried to kill me,” Ianthe said nonchalantly.

Frances sighed and put his hand to his forehead in exasperation.

He couldn’t believe her terrible luck. She might as well be the ‘mate of all those in the group who had tried to kill them.

“Anything else happen?”

“We’ve agreed to meet at a café near the library tomorrow. Just so we can get to know each other a little better. Baby steps and all that.”

“Alright here’s what you need to do during the conversation with Uvogin…”

…

Ianthe paced nervously around the library. It was now after hours and the library had closed. Uvogin was due to come back any minute now. Normally he wouldn’t carry a phone with him when he was gone but she wanted to keep in contact and he agreed to carry one, which is how she knew when he’d be back.

A hand clamped on her shoulder and she didn’t need to look to know it was Machi.

“Being nervous won’t do you any good. Sit down,” Machi directed her to a nearby seat.

However, her anxiety was still showing in the way she kept bouncing her leg up and down. Even Machi’s tiny smile couldn’t reassure her.

“Pretty girl! I’m back!”

The familiar loud voice caused Ianthe to jump from her seat and rush to the muscular figure she had become accustomed to. In her excitement she failed to see the frown present on the pink-haired woman as she watched Ianthe jump into Uvogin’s arms.

Ianthe led Uvogin back to Machi. Uvogin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at seeing his fellow troupe member.

“What are you doing here.” He asked her.

“It’d be better if you were sitting down for this,” Ianthe told him. She had asked Machi to keep quiet and let her talk to him. “Something happened while you were gone.”

“Like what?”

“Well, Machi and I met in a club and discovered we too are soulmates.” _Short and sweet should do it._

Uvogin was quiet.

“Is this some kind of joke?” he finally managed to say, his facial expression completely serious. Seeing this, Ianthe gulped, she had never seen him so emotionless before, there was always some sort of happy expression on his face. This was not what she wanted.

“No. It’s not,” Machi answered for the frozen girl.

Those words were all Uvogin needed to hear before he left the library.

“Uvo, don’t go!” Ianthe tried to go after him but Machi held her back. “Don’t,” she informed the mermaid. She had known him long enough to tell that he needed to be alone right now.

_For the third time in her life Ianthe cried._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to try and write a realistic reaction to finding out the one person you’re meant to live the rest of your life with has someone else.
> 
> Also update on my situation. I have a long term accomodation where I don’t have to pay rent, I get fed and they even buy me anything I need! Police are aware that my mother abuses me and I’m getting an intervention. I will probably be writing a lot to cope with my anxiety right now.


End file.
